Tom Aberle builds and maintains airplanes, including his record-setting biplane, out of a hangar in Fallbrook. Tom Pfingsten

FALLBROOK  Tucked away inside an inconspicuous hangar behind the runway at the Fallbrook Community Airpark is Tom Aberle’s pride and joy, perhaps the fastest bird of its kind on the planet.

It’s a one-of-a-kind biplane, a record setter, a blur of carbon fiber topping 300 mph in a long enough straightaway — and Aberle built it without blueprints.

“Phantom was absolute raw materials,” he told me when I visited his shop on Friday. “We built it in seven months, and we didn’t have time to draft up blueprints. I had 10 or 12 people working with me on the airplane and they’d say, ‘How do we do this?’ I’d get my pencil out and write on the wing: ‘Here, do it this way, looks like this.’”

The results speak for themselves. In the 11 years that he’s been taking Phantom to the Reno Air Races every September, Aberle has broken his own records almost every year.

“Before this airplane came about, I think the fastest speed within the class was around 222,” recalled Aberle, who has been racing in Reno since 1967. In 2004, flying Phantom, “We did 237 (miles per hour), then 243 to 250 to 253, 255, then 260. We’ve continually made the plane go faster.”

Wiry and keen, Aberle is like a character out of an old comic book. He is 70 years old, has been flying since his father taught him how 54 years ago, and counts two sons, three grandchildren and two great-granddaughters among his brood.

Two-thirds of his working hours are spent repairing and maintaining planes for clients under the banner of his Aberle Custom Aircraft, which he founded in 1973.

He also oversees Fallbrook Air Service, which his parents founded to provide flight training, hangar space and airplane rentals to local pilots.

With so much going on in this quiet corner of the county-owned airpark, Aberle knows that most of the attention has come thanks to that one little powerhouse of an airplane.

Eleven years after its creation, there was still a twinkle of pride in Aberle’s eye as he took in the elegant form — stacked wings formed around a small cockpit, a triumph of power and minimalism. He rolled a cigarette and nodded slowly.

Aberle’s hangar is clearly a mechanic’s space, with all the tools and useful clutter you would expect, and near as I can figure, he must be some mechanic to improvise what is most likely the fastest biplane to be developed after 2000.

He is quick to acknowledge the other entries in the category: “Back in the ’30s, they were still developing biplanes — I think there was a Russian plane … that was built as a fighter that probably went faster than this airplane, but I doubt that it’s in existence.”

Because airplane racing is something that most of us will never experience, I was especially keen to hear Aberle’s account of what it’s like in the cockpit.

“Flying an airplane over 200 mph, 30 feet off the ground, next to seven other guys is some pretty hot stuff,” he said. “It’s fun, it’s thrilling, it’s all-consuming, there isn’t anything else going on in the world for about four minutes.